Santillana del Mar Cantabria en 4K

Santillana del Mar is one of the most beautiful and best-preserved medieval towns belonging to at the Club of the Most Beautiful Towns in Spain Recognized for its outstanding historical and artistic value it was named Capital of Rural Tourism in 2019 among the 215 municipalities in the country it is one of the most visited tourist attractions Cantabria home to the Cave of Altamira dubbed the Sistine Chapel of Paleolithic art A group of pilgrim monks built a small hermitage to house the relics of the martyr Saint Juliana of Nicomedia persecuted by the emperor Diocletian in the third century In the ninth century it became the monastery of Saint Juliana transitioning into a collegiate church the 12th century serving as the most significant representative of Romanesque art in Cantabria Around her a village gradually developed a legacy of artistic cultural and monumental significance comparable adopting the name Santa Juliana which later evolved into Santillana olding significant territorial control over the region known as the Asturias de Santillana serving as home to prominent nobles and families from the Kingdom of Castile In 1445 King John II granted the lordship of the town to the first Marquis of Santillana and his successors the Dukes of the Infantado The exceptional preservation of its historic district immerses us in a past of narrow cobbled streets medieval streets flanked by century-old stone houses meticulously maintained and restored with balconies Iron and wood adorned with flowers shields and family crests Their residents are engaged in agriculture livestock farming and tourism Dozens of shops offer typical regional products along with wooden and ceramic handicrafts From the Regina Coeli convent home to the diocesan museum we walk down Santo Domingo Street discovering the 18th-century Palacio de Peredo Barreda the most elegant mansion in the tow and today serves as a cultural center highlighting its paintings furnishings library and the tree species in the garden Arriving at the Villa House with 18th-century architecture we came upon a fork in the path To the left following Juan Infante Street lined with houses featuring balconies Adorned with flowers we arrived at the charming Medieval Plaza Mayor also known as Plaza del Mercado or Plaza de Ramón Pelayo We see the Eagle House from the 18th century and the Vine House from the 16th century which now serve as a cultural center and exhibition hall The National Parador Gil Blas is housed in an old palace belonging to the Barreda Placho family The town hall presides over the square an 18th-century building constructed of ashlar stone e yellowish Arenisca stone and the 15th-century Tower of Don Borja home to the Santillana Foundatio ext to the 16th-century Merino Tower where the rulers of the Asturias de Santillana once resided Ascending the Camino de los Hornos we enjoyed a lovely panoramic view of the collegiate church and its surroundings After returning to the square we headed toward the village’s main and most heavily traveled thoroughfare formed by Carrera Cantón and Del Río streets There stands the house of Leonor de la Vega mother of the Marqués de Santillana a structure a 15th-century building that is now a hotel and next to it the House of the Hombrones with a large coat of arms of the Villar family It derives its name from the two soldiers on its shield holding weapons and bearing its motto: "A good death is an honor of life " The River Street descends to a watering trough near the homes of the Cosío and Quevedo families dating from the late 17th century In the distance the collegiate church of Santa Juliana a frequent stop for pilgrims traveling the Northern Way of Santiago along the coast In the abbey square Francisco Navarro found a photographer from the 1920s complete with all his photographic and developing equipment Just beyond lies the museum of sculptor Jesús Otero featuring around fifty works and the municipal hostel The abbots' house of the 17th-century collegiate church later belonged to the Parredabracho family It was the residence of the Archduchess of Austria and Bourbon There you'll find the waffle maker museum featuring sweets chocolates and waffles On the upper floor devoted to the world of waffles we're transported back to childhood wooden toys and dolls adorned with period-appropriate details and objects The collegiate church has been a national monument since 1889 It consists of a church with three naves and a magnificent cloister Its southern facade boasts rich architectural detail including an ornate sculpted frieze above and statues set into the recessed panels Next to the apostles and bishops is a scene of Adam and Eve with the majesty at the center Dominí blesses with his right hand holding the Book of Life in his left being held aloft by four angels The tower is cylindrical with separate sections divided by stepped string courses and the upper section features a recessed opening Standing beneath the structures is a square-based dome The apse is one of the most spectacular in Spanish Romanesque architecture renowned for its intricate articulation central and southern Asphix mural To visit the collegiate church one enters through a door in the west wall Claustrum raised to the north of the church between the 12th and 13th centuries It has a square layout with four wings opening onto a central courtyard through arcades—three from the Romanesque period and the eastern wing much later The arches are semicircular and supported by pairs of thick low piers In its 43 Romanesque chapters there are vegetal geometric homophoric and biblical scene motifs In an advanced Gothic chapel tucked into the southeast corner of the cloister lie tombs such as that of the Bishop Pelayo of Oviedo from the year 1124 and those from the Polanco family On the east wing we find a sculptural representation of the scenes from the Passion of Christ The church's entrance is through a pointed-arched doorway Inside it features three spacious ribbed nave halls from the 13th century The columns feature richly detailed carvings of plant and animal motifs In an apse there is a relief of the Virgin with the Child and in the central section a group of four apostles and in another a relief depicting the holy patroness subduing the devil On the cruise the lantern rises above tall piers that support the semi-spherical dome We circled around the collegiate church heading toward the Plaza de las Arenas The most notable building is the Palace of the Velarde constructed in the 16th century and featuring a Gothic-Renaissance style It was inhabited by the Velarde family and their descendants until the early 20th century Returning along the main road we arrived at the Palacio de Valdivierso built in the eighteenth century and now operating as a hotel Nearby is the Museum of Torture featuring instruments of torture and humiliation punishment and the death penalty employed by the Inquisition and criminal courts of medieval Europe from the 14th to the 19th centuries La Santillana del Mar is known as the Road of the Three Lies because it is neither holy It has no plains nor does it have a coastline though that's not entirely accurate since its municipality includes e hermitage of Santa Justa which gives its name to the beach built into a cave between the cliffs